‘I’m fine.’ Being dressed should make her feel better, more in control. It didn’t. Somehow it made her feel defenceless.
The hurt she’d felt ten years ago was all around her. It was ridiculous, she told herself. You didn’t mourn a lost love for ten years.
But the hurt had gone bone deep, and it was surfacing again now. This guy was too tall, his eyes were too dark. His hair was too black. He was too much the same as he’d been all those years ago.
‘If you’re running on a skeleton staff then I’m taking up a bed,’ she managed. ‘Discharge me now, Leo. The sooner I get out of this cell the happier I’ll be.’
‘Cell?’
‘This room’s awful. Why on earth don’t you paint it?’
He didn’t answer. The look on his face, though…
Uh-oh. She watched his fingers clench into fists at his sides, and then slowly unclench, as if he was counting to ten, and then to twenty, and then maybe to whatever it took to hold his temper.
‘We have two private rooms in this entire hospital,’ he said at last. ‘We reserve them for those who desperately need privacy, usually those in the last days of their lives. We had a death just before you were admitted, which left this room free. Because of your…because of who you are…we believed a single room was imperative. Believe it or not, if we’d put you in a shared ward you would have had half the country visiting the patient in the next bed, just to get a look at you. So we did you a kindness. We put you in what’s one of our best rooms.’
‘Best rooms…’
‘I told you, skeleton staff, minuscule budget, that’s what we have. But certainly I’m happy for you to go. We started you on antibiotics last night. You can go as soon as the script’s filled. Continue them for the full course—there are bats in those underground vaults and they carry infection. I can’t imagine what Victoir was about, taking you down there without protective gear.’
‘He was proving the place was unsafe.’ There were a hundred other things she could have said but she couldn’t get her tongue around any of them.
‘It is unsafe. Obviously. But not if you know what you’re doing.’
‘You’ve been down there?’
‘I’d imagine every adventurous child living within a couple of miles of the castle has been down there.’
‘Bats or not?’
‘They add to the challenge.’
‘Surely my cousin didn’t let kids into the castle.’
‘There are entrances from outside the castle walls. No one’s ever blocked them off. Your cousin and your uncle and your grandfather before him didn’t give a toss what went on under the castle, as long as no one bothered their secluded, indolent lives. Let’s get your head checked and get you out of here.’
‘So I can start my secluded, indolent life?’
He sighed. ‘Anna, I have no idea what you intend. I’ve heard Victoir plans to turn the castle into luxury apartments, with its own internal helipad. An oasis for the super-rich from other countries. With its location, with the Mediterranean right under the battlements, with the right design and your money behind it, such a place could be a celebrity magnet. He hired architects years ago, trying to persuade your cousin that it wouldn’t intrude on his privacy. One of those architects left his plans in a local cab and the driver had them broadcast all over the country in minutes. It came to nothing, though. Your cousin wouldn’t have seen anything in it for him, and that was all that interested him. Now, your head…’
‘So he urgently wants the underground closed off because…’
‘It wouldn’t do to let it get out that the proposed idyllic retreat can be broached by twelve-year-olds.’ He was right by her bed now, too close for comfort, but then anywhere in this tiny room was too close for comfort. ‘Your head, Anna. I’m here to examine you, not talk about plans that have nothing to do with me.’
That shut her up.
He checked her head, not disturbing the dressing over the gash but simply noting the extent of bruising. He checked her eyes, her vision, and then retreated to the end of the bed to read the obs chart. Time for discussion was over.
‘Headache?’ he asked as he finished reading.
‘Only when I laugh, and when you’re here I find it difficult to even smile.’
He didn’t respond.
‘Any dizziness?’
‘When I stand up fast but that’s to be expected.’
He nodded. ‘Take it easy for a few days, then. Do what Victoir suggests. Go lie in your castle and enjoy your view.’
Oh, enough. She pushed herself to her feet and glared. ‘That’s mean. What have I ever done to you, Leo Aretino, to make you act like I’m something the cat dragged in?’
‘That’s an exaggeration.’
‘It’s not. What have I done?’
‘You haven’t done anything.’
‘Once upon a time you asked me to marry you.’
‘That was a long time ago.’ He closed his eyes—remembering?—and when he opened them there was a hint of softness there. Regret? ‘We all do stupid things when we’re young. Proposing to someone you barely know might count as one of them.’
‘You did know me, though. You slept with me for—’
‘I don’t want to go there. It’s history.’
‘Which is affecting how you’re treating me right now.’
‘I’d be treating you the same if we hadn’t slept together.’
‘That’s a lie and you know it. I watched you train as a doctor. I’ve seen you with patients. You’re caring and kind, and last night you couldn’t stop yourself moving in for a hug. Now I’m not going to be a patient any more, you’re back to cold and sarcastic and all the things you suddenly became the moment you learned who my mother was.’
‘Anna…’
‘You owe it to me, Leo,’ she said, calmly now. ‘It’s a question that’s hung over me for years. I know I should have put it aside, but I’ve never understood. I suspect I’ll be spending a bit of time here now, not only in your country but in this town. We may well meet again.’ She took a deep breath, because what she was about to say was a concept so big she was having trouble getting her head around it. ‘I may even be the one who decides on funding for this hospital.’
‘Are you blackmailing me?’ He was suddenly incredulous. ‘What are you saying? Tell me why I didn’t marry you or you’ll cut off our funding?’
Whoa. It was her turn to be angry now.
She’d been confused
